Derrick Oien

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Chumby, Woot and Attention

I was fortunate to get one of the first Chumbys through a friend (thanks Steve). My Chumby was a bit autistic and recently I had to have it 'operated' on which resulted in a much better performing Chumby. While I still owe Steve a Rabble widget...I thought it would be cool to stick the Chumby in my kitchen near the spices and the wine bottles.

I wasn't sure why I decided to do that when it would make a lot of sense perched on the bookcase near my computer but for whatever reason there it was in my kitchen scrolling through Flickr pics of my family, an occasional Woot ad, Digg headlines and ESPN sports news. Periodically I would find myself walking over to see what was on Digg. Worse, I would remind myself that I need more pictures of the kids posted for grandma and grandpa. Even worse still I found myself walking over early in the morning to see what gadget was on sale on Woot. I don't know how it happened but I am now a Woot addict. I have yet to buy my first gadget, but I know it is coming. I can feel it coming.

My wife Jessica commented that she thought the Chumby was cool but she wanted some of her stuff. I think for Steve and crew this is really good. You just need more stuff for woman who don't read Slashdot. You know something that has the headlines from Defamer or better yet People magazine. I clearly don't relate to the news reading habits of the my age female demographic but if Woot gets me excited in the morning what kind of man am I?

As I have for the last 8 months I find these sorts of moments bringing me back to how Attention is the currency of the future, hell the currency of now. The small reminders of what I have seen on the Chumby has had a impact on me over the last several weeks where I switched from reading my regular blogs to reading Techmeme and Digg on a daily basis while surfing my Sidekick for Woot when I am on the road. I struggle with how I can properly filter my attention and focus on how I spend those rare moments not dedicated to the family and to the business. When I figure that out I will be glad to share with you.